O‘Fallon Brewery

When people talk about American craft beer, they usually mean the brews from the west and east coasts. The craft beer movement was founded in these places and most of the classic examples of the scene come from there. But the sprawling middle of America also shines with the finest beer from craft breweries. One of them is O'Fallon from St. Louis.

From beer trade to brewery

When the couple Fran and Tony Caradonna started their own small beer label in 2000, there was no real beer scene in their hometown of St. Louis. The craft beer movement had been raging along the east and west coasts of the USA since the 1980s, but in Missouri at that time you could only drink beer from large industrial breweries. Fran and Tony were no longer willing to accept this situation and set up a beer business. They exported brews from microbreweries and gave the people of St. Louis the opportunity to try handmade craft beer. After a while, however, this became too monotonous for them: the two no longer wanted to just sell beer made by other people, they wanted to try their hand at brewing themselves. After a few successful brewing attempts, they took the plunge and founded the O'Fallon Brewery.

When brewers help brewers

In the first two years of their brewery, Tony and Fran did everything themselves. They wrote the recipes, brewed the beer, bottled it themselves, packaged it, and shipped it to their excited customers. For two years, the O'Fallon Brewery was a two-person business. But they received a lot of help: Not only friends and family pitched in, the Caradonnas also received support from a completely unexpected source: From their competitors. Brewers from the city and surrounding areas supported them with advice, assistance, and equipment and accompanied them through the first two years. After that, the O'Fallon Brewery picked up speed and became one of the most popular breweries in the St. Louis area. Demand grew so dramatically that by 2008 Fran and Tony could no longer brew everything themselves. They had part of their range brewed by other breweries and moved to more spacious premises in 2015. The wide range of fine beers has been growing steadily ever since and no longer just supplies St. Louis with good brews. The brewers have attracted attention with their beers in international competitions and won a medal or two. Brews like the Smoke Porter combine their love of experimentation with the basics of American craft beer and speak of the courage and expertise of their makers.